Pipe-coupling and coupling attachment for railway-cars



(N0 Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

F. DU MONTIER.

PIPE GOUPLING AND OOUPLING ATTAGHMENT PUR RAILWAY GARS.

N0. 482,304. 4 Patented Sept. 6, 189.2.

INVENTR.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED DU MONTIER, OF OGDENSBURG, NEW YORK.

PlPE-COUPLING AND COUPLING ATTACHMENT FOR RAlLWAY-CARS.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 482,304, dated September 6, 1892.

Application file December 8 1891. Serial N0. 414,434. (N0 model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED DU-M0NTIER, a citizen of the United States of America, and aresident of Ogdensburg, in the county of St. Lawrenee and State of New York, have invented certain new arid useful Improvennents in Pipe-Couplings and Ooupling Attael1ments for Railway-Oars and I (10 hereby deelare that the following is a full, clear, and exaet description of the invention, such as will enable 0thers skilled in the art t0 whieh it appertains to make and use the same.

The objeet of my invention is t0 provide means for expeditiously nniting the ends 01": ehe air-brake er steam pipes carried on eaeh car of a series, where such pipes are used, without requiring the brakeman to g0 between the encls of the carsa practice, as 1s well known, espeeially dangerous in the ease of freight-ears as ordinarily eonstrueted and also to provide a coupling that will automatieally uncouple without inj ury to the coupling should any 0f the series of ears break apart.

In the aceompanying drawings,Figure 1 is a perspective view of the end of an ordinary freight-car With my improved pipe-eouphng and conpling attaehment in position thereon. Fig. 2 is a side view in perspeetiv e of a pair of my improved pipe-conplings 111 pos1t1on when coupled, showing more clearly the details of construction, but omitting the attaehment 130 the ear. Fig. 3 is a perspective view 0f the head of 1ny improVed pipe-coupling, showing the fa0e thereof; and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal seetional view 0f the coupl1ng-head of my improved pipe-coupling, show1ng the manner of eonstrueting and plaeing the packing for the joint and removably seenring tl1e Same to the face of the eoupling.

Like letters of referenee indicate corresponding parts in all the figure s.

Referring t0 the accompany1ng draw1ngs, G (shown at Fig. l) represents the end of an ordinary freight-car, across the faee of which is ho izontally attached by eleats the metal pipe having both ends bent in am forma t0 faeilitate the passage therethrongh 0f Lhe chain F, tl1e ends of which are seeured by means of the set-screws b and b" within the hollow arms 0f the T-iron B, as shown, the main stem of said T-iron being seeured to the under side of the 1ine 0f piping ani. at right angles thereto. T0 t-he outer end of said line of piping is seeured the eoupling-head A, and interposed in rhe said line 0f piping, on tl1e other side 0f said T-iron connection, is placed the stop eock conneetion C, by means 0f Whi0h the opening in the said pipe may be elosed when the eoupling is disconnected. T0 the inner end of said stop-cock connection C is conneeted the pliable hose or piping D now in ordinary use in eonneetion with air-brake 01 steam-heating ear systen1s, and. t0 the other end of this flexible hose are eonneeted thepipes running under the car as.ordinarily employed. As Will be reaclily observed, this gives a eontinuous 1ine of communieation for the steann 01 air froxn said pipe under the ear through the opening shown in the coupling-head at Fig. 4.

In tl1e coupling-head, as sl1own more partienlarly at Figs. 2, 3, and 4, I construct the faee 0f the coupling ab an angle of abont ninety degrees so tl1e axis of the 1ine 0f piping and provide ehe same With an elastie annular packing a, held in position so as to project slightly above the faee 0f the Coupling-head by a metal annnlar keeper a provided with a male screw at its lower end, aclapted to engage with the female serew in the body 0f the coupling-head A, as shown at Fig. 4, and the slots a a'on the inner snrface of said keeper afifor the purpose 0f affording engagement With an ordinary screw-driver for forcing the said keeper a into the position shown 01 removing it therefrom 1;0 replaee said packing a. This keeper 00 has a circnrnferential annular shoulder on its upper end, whieh engages with an internal annular rim 011 tl1e lower end 0f tl1e paeking a, by wl1ieh means the said. paeking is held seeurely in plaee, as shown.

011 the outer extremity of the couplinghead A and extending at right angles to the faee thereof I forma the 111g a, hax' ing an enlarged. head bent outwardly and at right angles thereto and adapted-to engage with the horn a upon the opposite side 0f the companion coupling-head, such companion couplinghead being a duplicate of the one herein described. This horn a is made slightly tempering both on its outer cireumference and side opposite its face for tl1e purpose of wedging together the faces of the respeetive couplingsby rneans of the engagement of these horns with 12116 lugs a and the heads on seid 1ugs when tl1e seid h0rns anti lugs are rotaoed toward each other in effecting the coupling, as hereinafter explained.

It will be observed thab inconnection with tl1e conpling-head shown I construct one arm of the T-ixon B longer than the otherend, so (hat t1he jarring of t-he car wben in motion will have a tendeney to twist the coupling tighter together beca.nse 0f the weigl1t of the conpling-heacl being supported by the seid T-iron and ehain, as shown. This tendency is f urther inereased by the weight of the stopcoek and pliable hose acting upon the seid lugs and horns through the leverage 0f the connections shown anti bearing 0n the supporting-chain as a fulcrum. II; is also apparent that when the leverage is thrown in the opposite direction by pulling one pair of said suppo1tin g-chains horizontally from the other pair, as would be done when the cars supporting ehe apparatus were drawn apart, the said lugs would be forced from engagement with the seid horns and the coupling would fall apart, and this wonld occur without drag ging the edge of one packing across the other, as would happen if the faee of bhe couplinghead were set parallel With the line of motion of seid cars.

My object in eonstructing the arme of the T-iron B hollow, with the seo-serews b am]. b", as shown, is to allow of adjusting by their use tl1e length 0f the supporting-chains F; laut it is apparent tha1: this object may be aecomplished by other known means commonly employed for a like purpose. In is alsoappatent tl1at 1sl1e ehain F may be replaced by a flexible wire rope 01 other cord having Ll1e requisite strength and flexibility, and the hollow pipe E may be made semicircular 01 raised 01 depressed in the center to conform to the eonstrnetion of difierent cars, and its manner of attachment to tl1e car may be by auy of tl1e various n1eans commonly employed for a 1ike purpose. It will be further 0bserved that by throwing the center of gravity on the coupling end of the seid supporting T-iron by either-weighting' the conplingheads or carrying them famther from the counection with the T-iron the osition of the T-iron connection xnay be reversed and the supporting T-irons placed above the line of the coupling-pipe anti yet be automatically uncoupled when the cars supporting the saxne are drawn apart.

In operating my said improved pipe-coupling and coupling attaehment, it being first attached t0 tl1e cars, es shown, and the ears fastened together, so that they Will 11013 draw apart, and the brakeman 01 operator being ab either side of the opening between the cars, he grasps the part 0f the chain attached t0 each pipe-coupling 011 the side nearest him, and thereby draws both said coupling-heads t0 that side of the cars. -I-Ie then gvasps one of the seid coupling-heads in either hand and places tl1e faces thereof together, so that the lugs a engage with the inner edges of the horns a on each conpling-head, and fastens them together by a slight right-handed twist. I-Ie then opens the stop-coeks C O und restores the said coupling-heads to tbeir normal position by grasping and pulling the ehains F F through tl1e pipes E E until the seid coupling-heads are supported by seid chains midway from either side 01: the cars. T0 uncouple the said. coupling-heads,they are drawn 130 either side in the same manner as above explained, the stopcoeks C 0 turned to close the ends of the pipes,'and the compling-heads diseonnected by a left handed twist.

The supporting-chains F F and pipe E E above described. ean be used with any of the known forms of coupling-heads when couneeted with tl1e flexible pipe D described. For tl1e purpose of enabling tl1e brakeman to eouple ancl uneouple the samewithout going between the cars and in case ehe tilting aetion 0f the T-iron above explained should not be required for automaticelly uncoup- 1ing seid chains could be attached direetly to the coupling-head byany of the means usually employed for such purpose.

Having now deseribed my improved pipecoupling und coupling attachment for milway-cars am]. the manner of operating the sanne, what I elaim as my invention, and de sire t;o secure by Letters Patent 0t' the United States, is

1. In a pipe-eonpling and conpling attackment for railway-cams, the combination, with a flexible pipe, of a eoupling-head thereon, and a pipe secured to the car, and a supporting chain o1 rope passing freely therethrough isind having its ends attached t0 the coupling ead.

2. In a, pipe-coupling and coupling attachment for railway-cars, tl1e combination, with a flexible pipe, 0f a coupling-head thereon, und. a pipe with curved ends secured t0 the car, and a supporting ehain 01 rope passing freely therethrough and having its ends attaehed to the coupling-head.

3. In a pipe-coupling and coupling attackment for railway-cars, th6 combination, with a flexible pipe, of a coupling-head thereon, a T-iron having ibs stem seoured to seid pipe at or near the eoupling-head, a pipe secured to the car, and a supporting chain 01' rope passing freely therethrough and having its ende attaehed to the arms of the T-iron.

4. In a pipe-coupling and coupling attackment for railway-cars, the combination, with IOO a coupling-face set ab an angle to the 1ine 0f a companion duplicate coupling-head, subpiping, of an e1astie annular packing removstantially as herein shown and deseribed. j ab1y seeured Within the coupling-head, and

upon the rear edge of the face 0f said coup- FRED DU MONTIER. 5 ling-head a wedge-shaped horn, and 011 the Witnesses:

opposite side of said face aprojecting headed JOHN F. DERENNE,

1ug adapted 130 engage with a s1milar horn on JOSEPH HACKETI. 

